Here's Your Goddamned Coffee!
by Ausar The Vile
Summary: Modern AU! Ares is a depressed guy that just had broken up with his girlfriend. Nemesis is a new barista on his favorite coffeeshop. Apollo just want some inspiration for his romance story, even if it means that he has to hook up his brother with that new barista. Rated T to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**AUTHOR NOTE: I just want to write some Modern AU for Smite fandom, okay?! Lay down your pitchforks! Also, because I found Coffeeshop themed fanfic sounds pretty interesting. (I had to browse through Starbucks menu just to get any coffee preferences right for this fanfic -_-)**

 **Also, it's an Ares X Nemesis fanfic. Again. (well, you know me *shrugs*)**

* * *

' _Love comes in unexpected places.'_

"Bullcrap," Ares muttered, as he sits loungingly at the couch in their living room. "Tell me again, Sunny Boy, why are you making this stupid romance story again?"

Apollo looked up from his laptop, frowning. "I told you, I need to ace this test. If I don't get at least B minus for English Literature, say bye-bye to my oh-so wonderful bright future…"

"Yeah, whatever…" Ares grunted. "Romance is dead. At least to me…"

Apollo slowly gaze toward his brother, understanding at his bitterness. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Talk about what?"

"You know… you and Aphrodite? I know it's hard for you for breaking up with her, it's just that…"

"There's nothing to talk about," Ares said, deadpanned. "I'm not going to talk about that whore and this conversation is over." With that, he stood up from his seat and left the living room, grumbling. Apollo just sighed and returned to his main focus, his assignment. He was barely two paragraphs and Athena isn't home yet from her work, so he's completely hopeless for the rest of the night.

Yesterday was a disaster. It was supposed to be a housewarming party for Bellona, who had recently moved into their neighborhood. It's just happen that Athena and Artemis knew Bellona from their community college, and everyone were invited.

Ares, of course, being a good boyfriend and all, brought Aphrodite with him to the party.

And that's where everything gone wrong.

It turns out, Aphrodite had been a girlfriend for FOUR different men. And all four men were invited to that party too. Imagine the chaos where said four men and Ares immediately realized that all of them were cheated by Aphrodite.

To make it worse, Aphrodite was caught making out with Hercules in the closet. Much to Bellona's discomfort. And possibly everyone in the party too.

At the end of the party, Ares immediately broke up with Aphrodite and never speaks with her again.

" _Such a shame. We all thought that Ares and Aphrodite makes a cute couple,"_ Apollo thought as he kept typing stuff for his story. _"It's too bad for me too, I was going to make them as an inspiration for my story…"_

Ares then walked into the living room again, this time already dressed in his black biker jacket and jeans. "Apollo, if anyone wants to find me, tell them that I'll be at our usual hangout spot."

Apollo nodded. "Alright. I'll tell Athena when she's home."

As soon as Ares left the house, Apollo sighed. "I wish there's something interesting is going to happen…"

And then he could hear their coffee maker burst into flame.

"Anything but that!" He groaned.

* * *

Weaver Café was the popular coffee shop in their neighborhood. It was a small building, but somehow could manage to fit hundreds of people in there. The owner, Neith is pretty much an easy-going, cheerful person, unless if you angered her in some way. Trust me, you don't want to anger her.

"Neith? Are you really sure you want to employ them?" Loki, the senior barista—who also acted as Neith's assistant, motioned to their newest recruits. "I'm okay with this summer job program, but they're still too young. They probably— "

"They'll do great," Neith said. "Besides, three of them are the only ones applied for this job anyway."

Loki looked to Neith, then back to the three employees again. The first one is Freya, a girl with blonde hair and weird Norse tattoo on her side. The second one is a hyperactive looking guy with brown hair and bright blue eyes named Mercury—Loki swears that this guy must have drank ten coffees every day. And the last one is a dark-haired girl with pale skin and pale blue eyes named Nemesis, who seems to be very calm, quiet, and cold than her other peers, which is actually what worries him since the job that she currently applied to requires her to be friendly with the customers.

"I'll leave you with the new kids. Have fun!" Neith said, before she walked back to her office.

"Wait— "Too late, Neith already closed the door. When the door closed, no one, I mean _no one_ should disturb her works—paperwork stacked into the ceiling. Loki groaned as he turned to three—two eagers and a deadpanned employee. "Alright, newbies. I'm Loki and I'm the senior barista here and will act as your teacher, means that whatever I tell you and teach you, should be listened and performed accordingly. Understand?"

Three heads nodded.

"Good. Let's start with— "

…

Loki couldn't believe it. Neith was right—well, she always right when it comes to trusting anyone. Three new employees had managed to serve their customers, professionally for the last two hours since they're open. Freya seemed to always attract male customers—much to her dismay. Mercury and Nemesis worked pretty good as well, so nothing to worry about.

"The kids did great, isn't it?" Rama asked, another senior barista that had worked with Loki since the day the coffeeshop opened. "Maybe we should do this summer job program more often. Who knows, maybe we could finally retire and leave this job to young generations."

Loki shrugged. "Nah, I'll still keep an eye on them. That Mercury kid works really fast, but he often breaks the mugs in the process."

Mercury always looked excited. He often run around the coffeeshop, talking with the customers, and clean up the tables way before the customers even leave the table.

"Did that kid drink ten coffees every morning or something?" Rama asked as he watched Mercury running back to the stand, almost forgetting the empty coffee mugs.

Loki shrugged again.

* * *

Ares entered the coffeeshop, feeling moodier than usual. Ever since he discovered that Aphrodite had been cheating on him and the break up, he's getting more and more depressed every day.

" _I thought she loves me…"_ Ares thought, sadly. _"She kept saying that she loved me. Had she been lying to me this whole time?"_

When he looked up, he realized the Weaver Café had been more crowded than usual. "Um… what's happening? Are they having new drinks?"

"Dude, you should see their new barista!" Some random guy patted Ares on his shoulder. "That Freya chick is totally hot!"

"New barista?"

"Actually, they have three. That Mercury guy is way friendlier than the usual baristas. And two new girls."

"But that Nemesis girl is pretty too." A friend of the guy said.

"Meh, she's decent alright. But Freya? Man, she's could literally shine like a beacon among the storm!"

Ares decided to leave those two guys bickered by themselves. He doesn't want to get caught dead with those two morons anyway. Walking into the front seems difficult, due to the amount of people waiting in the line to get served. He could see their new baristas even from behind many crowds of overly eager males.

Ares concluded that the blonde barista must be Freya, since she was the only one who got overwhelmed with so many customers. He couldn't find her attractive though.

" _Blonde hair… why does it kept reminded me with Aphrodite?"_ Ares thought, depressed. _"Probably because she also had blonde hair too."_

Ares realized that the guy that worked next to Freya was way too hyper on doing his job. _"That guy must be secretly a monkey/bunny/human hybrid that had escaped from secret lab."_

"Can I get you anything?"

"Huh?" He was immediately cut off from his musing and realized that he had already been standing in front of the counter.

The dark-haired barista sighed. "What is your order?"

Ares just stared, not sure whether to stare to the supposed menu hang above her or herself. He had to admit, she's actually looked pretty for a girl that doesn't try to look stand up. Unlike Freya, she has a short dark hair and her eyes are soft pale blues, which are really fit to her pale skin.

"Look," the girl asked again. "Are you here to order, or just gawking at the spot?"

Ares flushed as he snapped out from his musing again. "Oh, um… sorry. I'll just have the usual."

She raised her eyebrows, which made Ares mentally face palmed to himself. _"Right, she's the new girl."_

"I mean, Americano with double—make it triple shots." Ares said. "Also, I need a Cappuccino on the go, but decaf."

The girl looked up, unamused. "Let me guess, for your girlfriend?"

That statement stabbed Ares so hard, it makes him looked like he just got a stroke. _"Shit! I already broke up with Aphrodite, why would I need to order another one?"_ "Um… on second thought, cancel the last one. Just give me my coffee…"

The barista raised her eyebrows again, but didn't ask further. "Alright, just give me minutes. I'll get you your coffee."

She turned back to do her job, leaving Ares stood still on his spot.

" _And she must be Nemesis. Huh, what a pretty name…"_

* * *

 **AUTHOR NOTE: As I said earlier, this is Modern AU where all the mentioned gods, monsters, heroes are mortals. Also, I'm the kind of person that can't drink caffeine (I have ulcer- wait, why am I telling you all this?)  
**


	2. Chapter 2

Apollo grumbled under his breath as he walks through what it could be a harsh wind. "What's with the weather lately?"

After not finding any idea for his homework, Apollo decided that he should go to Weaver Café to clear his head off—also because he doesn't want to try to fix the coffee maker. He thought that maybe he could find a good inspiration when he's at his favorite place, so he brought his laptop with him and go.

* * *

"Is there going to be a storm outside, sir?" Freya asked after the huge crowd of customers finally diminishing, to her relief.

"I hope not," Rama said. "This building already gone through several renovations because of the occasional storms around this neighborhood. I don't think Neith would want to spend any more money for another reparation."

The activities in the café is finally quite down, and the only remaining people in there other than the employees are their usual customers. Mercury was able to relax—much to everyone surprises since they thought that all that guy could do was being jittery and hyper. Rama was cleaning up their coffee brewer—he didn't trust this job to the new kids just yet. Loki was reviewing today's income with Neith. Freya was eating one of the café's candies (nobody was bothered, besides they're near to closing time) and Nemesis just observing the café's environment.

Today is Nemesis' first day at the job and she already found herself to be bored. Yes, the huge number of crowds earlier already kept her busy, but that was just it. Nothing interesting from making beverages for hipster or serving food, but this is the only job she could get and she needs to pay rent somehow. The customers that staying right now are what Loki described as their usual, the ones that always coming back to their café, their loyal customers.

She found herself staring at the awkward blonde guy she served earlier. She had to admit he looked intimidating with that black biker jacket he wore, but he could be friendly if he's not acting that awkward.

He didn't drink his coffee, only staring at it as if he doesn't know whether it was poisoned or not. Nemesis just rolled her eyes at this.

Suddenly, someone patted her on her back, making her almost shriek.

"Hey, Nemesis!" Freya greeted, then she looked to the direction where Nemesis currently staring at. "First day on the job and you already eyed on a handsome guy already?"

Nemesis glared, although she couldn't hide her blush from that statement. "No, I am merely observing our customers."

Freya rolled her eyes. "Right… 'observing' the customers."

"What do you want, Freya?" Nemesis sighed.

"The boss wants you to clean the tables. Mercury already cleaning the floor as we speak and I have to stack the mugs and plates for tomorrow." Freya explained, then she added with playful tone. "You know… you can ask that guy for his number when you clean his table— "

Before she could finish her sentence, Nemesis just huffed and left with the cleaning cloth, leaving Freya laughing at her friend's strange behavior.

* * *

Ares just stared at his coffee without any intention of drinking. He remembered the first time he brought Aphrodite to this café, only for her to complained of how 'cheap' the place he brought her to for their date. Still, she ended up enjoying her mug of cappuccino as they flirted with each other over mugs of caffeine beverages.

But that was before.

Ares shook his memories away. _"She had betrayed me. There's no way I'm going to get back with her. I should have listened to Athena and Artemis. She's nothing but trouble."_

He found himself amused when he saw the same hyper barista is currently moping the floor whilst pretended that he was currently ice-skating, much to his boss annoyance.

"Mercury!" Loki shouted. "This is not ice rinks!"

"Sorry boss!" Mercury exclaimed. "I was currently thinking about that latest episode of 'Yuri on Ice' that I watched last night— "

"Oh my gods, you watched YOI too?!" Freya said, cheerfully.

Loki face palmed as he watched two of the new employees are vibrantly discussed about said anime.

"GET BACK TO WORK!"

The discussion immediately over and both Freya and Mercury back to do their assigned duty, although they promised to do some anime marathon once their work is done.

Ares smiled at how cheerful the café's new workers. Although, the other one, he had to admit is a little bit colder than the other two. Something must had happened to her that caused her to act like that.

Thunder rumbled loudly outside the building as the winds started to get harsher. _"Another storm incoming._ " Ares thought, not surprised at the amount of storm occurred at this neighborhood—he already lived in here long enough to find that the weathers hate this particular area.

Ares didn't plan on getting stuck in this café because of a storm, so he decided to try to finish his now lukewarm coffee.

Mercury was still moping on the floor when Nemesis walked into the table near him. Unfortunately, Mercury didn't mop it correctly as some of the floor are too slippery to walk into and Nemesis didn't notice it. So, when she on her way to clean on the table near Ares, she accidentally stepped on the wet floor and slipped.

She almost shriek during that too.

Luckily, since Ares was the closest to her, he instinctively caught her. Unluckily, he accidentally knocked down his coffee and it splashed right to both of them. Even unluckily, he and she were on a very _interesting_ position and were both wet from coffee. Mercury looked horrified at what he had done, while Freya gave Nemesis a thumb up—much to the said girl's annoyance.

"When I said go get his number, I didn't know you were into _more_ than his number!" Freya stated, giggling at the now red-faced Nemesis.

"S-shut up, Freya!" Nemesis shouted back, as she pulled herself away from Ares.

"Y-you're welcome." Ares numbly said, as he sees Nemesis hurriedly walked back to the counter to get herself cleaned up.

"Hey, bro!"

"Gah!" Ares turned to the source of the voice. It was from Apollo, who was currently smirking at him. "Apollo! What the hell are you doing here? I thought you are doing your stupid homework."

"I was, but I still ran out of idea. I decided to go here for a break instead," Apollo said. He then motioned toward the café counter. "So…. What's with you and that pretty girl over there?"

Ares's face reddened. "I was helping her. She accidentally stepped on the wet floor and slipped."

"And why you two were covered in coffee stain?"

"I accidentally knocked down my coffee in the process when I tried to catch her." Ares explained.

"Right…" Apollo smirked.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh nothing." Apollo said, but his smirks grew wider.

Before Ares could ask more, another thunder rumbled on outside as rain began to pour down, harshly. Everyone that were still inside the café are groaned in annoyance. The storm is happening, which mean they are stuck in here for the rest of the night.

Apollo glanced to Nemesis, who looked annoyed as Freya keep teasing her, while she wiped herself with a clean cloth. He then glanced back to his grumpy brother, who was still stained in coffee, didn't bother to clean himself up.

" _I think this will be a great idea for my story!"_ He thought, gleefully.

* * *

Meanwhile...

"Apollo! Ares! I'm home!" Athena called as she opened the door to the house. "Apollo? Ares? Where is everybody?"

She then noticed the still on fire-coffee maker.

"Damn it. Not again."


	3. Chapter 3

Ares wondered what makes Apollo looked so happy about even though there's a storm out there. Yes, both of them are now stuck in the Weaver Café until the storm cease and not that Ares find it bad to be stuck in their favorite place, but it's almost 11 pm and their sister is probably already at home, worrying about them right now. To his confusion, Apollo took a seat on a table a little bit far from his, instead of joining him on his table.

" _Probably needs more space to do his homework."_ Ares thought as he remembered how fussy Apollo is when he's doing something that really important.

But that still couldn't explain why Apollo is so cheery right now.

"Here."

Ares looked away from his brother to see someone had given him a napkin and a coffee. The exact coffee that he had ordered before.

"Sorry about… well, the incident…" the dark-haired barista said as she looked flushed. Ares noticed that Nemesis must have already changed her shirt, because he didn't see the coffee stains from her anymore.

"Uh, thanks?" Ares replied. He looked to the napkin, then back to her. "I don't think I need the napkin. The stains already dried off anyway." He motioned to the already dried stains on his shirt. It's good thing that he wore his biker jacket, the stains could easily fell off from its slick leather and its mostly cover his red shirt he'd wore inside his jacket.

"Oh," Nemesis seems to realize about what he wore right now, as her face reddened in embarrassment, for forgetting such detail. "Keep the napkin. Just in case…"

From the other table, Apollo vigorously typing something in his laptop, smirking ever so slightly as he eyed Ares with Nemesis.

Before Nemesis could return to her counter, Ares said, "You're Nemesis, right?"

Her eyes widened as she turned to him. "How do— "

"I read your name tag," Ares said, making her mentally face palmed at how she forgot about it as well. "By the way, thanks for the coffee."

She just smiled.

"I'm Ares."

"Huh?"

"It's my name," he said. "I'm Ares."

Nemesis just rolled her eyes. "Yes, I already know. I'm the one who made your order."

"I know. I just want to reintroduce myself to you better," he grinned.

"Why would you do that?" she asked.

"Because I'm the regular customer of this place," he explained. "I think it would be better if I could befriend the new employee like you for my future visits."

Nemesis almost want to scoff at how ridiculous is it, but she felt warm feeling stirring inside her heart for some unknown reason. Also, Loki said something about how better it would be if they could also be nice to the café's regulars.

"So, is Nemesis really your name or it's just a nickname you earned in your childhood?" he asked. "I mean, it sounded like your name came from Greek myths or something."

She raised her eyebrows at how ridiculous his statement is. "It is. Just like how ridiculous it is for you to be named after a Greek god of war."

"Blame my parents. They're maniac with Greek myths," Ares shrugged. "My dad was nicknamed 'Zeus' because he acted like the actual Zeus from myths, having lots of mistresses—you seen that guy typing on his laptop over there?" he pointed toward a busy-looking Apollo. "That's my half-brother. His name is Apollo. He has a twin sister named Artemis, who's currently stay in Canada for her studies."

Apollo overheard that his name was mentioned, looked up and waved a little toward Ares' table, before he went back to his story.

"What an interesting family you've got there," Nemesis said. "Meanwhile, my family is completely normal, the only thing that is abnormal is the fact my parents are also as crazy with Greek myths as yours."

"Crazy parents," He joked.

"Crazy parents." She nodded in agreement.

* * *

The storm still occurred outside, but everyone inside the building were safe and sound. The Weaver Café was supposed to close and hour ago, but since there's still people stuck in the coffeeshop due to the storm outside, Neith decided that the café will remain open until the storm is over. Also, because the employees and herself couldn't go back to their respective homes as well because of said harsh weather.

Rama was conversing with Loki and Neith, Freya was making herself some coffee in boredom, Mercury was chatting with some of their regular customers—who were amused at how energetic he is.

Apollo tried to discreetly eavesdrop of the conversation between Ares and Nemesis as he typed something that he deemed a little bit romantic on his story. He had managed to type three paragraphs now, and he felt excited at the prospect of having a great score after he give this to his teacher. Also, he was really happy that Ares could finally move on from Aphrodite.

"You're not from around here?" Ares asked.

Nemesis shook her head. "No. I'm recently moved here. I supposed that would make it the second time I move away."

"Second?"

"The first time is when I decided to move away from my parents' house. The second…" she trailed off. "that's not important. The important is, I'm moving into this neighborhood so I could get a fresh start for my life."

Ares looked curious. _"What happened before she moved in here?"_ he thought.

* * *

"She already moved away twice?" Apollo mused when he heard of this. "Hmm… I wonder why…"

Suddenly, someone tapped on his shoulder. "Hey!"

"GAH!" Apollo yelped. He turned back to see the café's two newest baristas, Freya and Mercury.

"What are you typing about?" Freya asked as she tried to peek through Apollo's shoulder to see his works.

"Hey! Isn't it rude for the employee to disturb their customer?!" Apollo yelled as he tried to protect his laptop.

"Not unless said customer were stalking at one of our colleague." Freya scoffed. "What do you want with Nemesis?"

"Yeah!" Mercury piped up. "You've been spying on our friend and one of our customer ever since you've been here."

Apollo's eyes widened. "Dude, you've got that all wrong! That customer is my brother." He pointed toward Ares, who's still in conversation with Nemesis.

Freya rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right. You don't even look related with him."

"That's because he is my half-brother," Apollo muttered. "Look, I have no ill-intention with your friend here. I just want to write some romance story for my assignment. And…"

He ended up explaining his matter with Freya and Mercury.

…

"It's strange how a single storm could bring everyone together." Rama said as he glanced at Freya and Mercury that were in a hushed conversation with Apollo, and Nemesis was talking with Ares.

"You always said that every time we're stuck during the storm." Neith muttered, while she was doing some taxes.

…

"and you want to hook up our friend with your brother, so you can have inspiration for your story," Freya said. "and helping your brother to move on from his ex-girlfriend?"

Apollo nodded.

"Dude, that's sounds so wrong," Mercury commented. "Isn't that sounds like you are using your brother's despair for your advantage?"

Apollo flinched at how cold that statement is. "N-not exactly," Both Freya and Mercury glared toward him. "Okay, maybe it's a _little_ like that… but seriously, don't they really make a cute couple?" he motioned toward the still chatting Ares and Nemesis.

Freya sighed. "Well, they do. And I know Nemesis for a long time, so yeah, she really does make good couple with him. But I'm not sure if she could easily fall for him like that—ever since the _last time_ …"

Apollo raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Long story," she said. "Basically, she has trust issue toward any guy."

"Then, we better make her trust Ares," he said. "Trust is another path to love…"

" _We_?"

"Yes, that's what I said."

"What makes you think we want to help you?" Mercury asked.

"I thought you guys want in!"

Freya sighed. "It's okay, Merc," she then turned to Apollo. "Alright fine, we will help you because I think Nemesis needs to move on from her past as well. If something happens to her, I will personally break each bone in your body. And I'm serious."

"I never been on this super-secret plan before," Mercury mused. "this is so exciting!"

* * *

"And that's how me and my siblings found this place," Ares concluded his story. "This café has become our favorite hang-out place ever since."

"I still can't believe you found this place through stupid accident with apples…" Nemesis muttered.

Ares shrugged. "It's true, even though I still don't believe it myself."

Nemesis rolled her eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

Minutes had passed and the storm is still not yet over—and it's 12 am now. No one dares to go through the harsh weather, except those who either pretty bold or stupid.

"I was thinking something to do with putting them in a tiny room and lock them in," Apollo murmured while typing out his idea and figuring if this one is good enough. "You know, kinda like that one Teen Titans fanfic. I think it has something to do with cupboard or storage room."

Mercury only tilted his head in confusion and Freya simply rolled her eyes. "Isn't story supposed to be original?"

"I don't think fanfics nowadays have any original plots." Mercury commented.

"I'm talking about story in general. Not fanfics."

"Is your boss okay with this?" Apollo asked to Freya. "It is my idea of course, but borrowing your facilities for customer purpose?"

"Mr. Loki wouldn't allow it," Freya said. "but, as long as you pay for the future damages, I don't think he would mind."

Apollo frowned as he realized that he has not enough money to pay for it. "I wish Athena was here…" he grumbled, before another idea struck him. "well… I don't think your boss would ask me to pay if it's an accident that was not my fault."

"What?"

"I meant, we pretend that we have nothing to do with the 'incident'."

Both Mercury and Freya still looked at Apollo, dumbly.

Apollo sighed. "We lure them to the storage room then lock them before everyone knows."

"Oh."

* * *

Nemesis was cleaning up the counter after her conversation with Ares. She had to admit it was indeed nice talking with him. She wondered if she will meet him again someday.

" _What was I thinking? He's just being nice to me. It's not like he has any intention of asking me out!"_ Nemesis thought. _"Besides, he's probably has a girlfriend—wait, since when a random guy's personal life become my concern?"_

Nemesis was so wrapped out in her own thought, she didn't notice her coworkers were sneaking around behind her, moving dangerous stuff out from the café's storage room.

"Nemesis!" Freya said as she tapped her shoulder to gain her attention. "Could you help me?"

Nemesis turned to her. "What is it?"

"There's a spider on the storage room!"

Nemesis raised her eyebrows at this. "A spider? Really?"

"This one is different! It's big and hairy!" Freya explained, frantically. "Come to think of it, I think it's more like a tarantula."

"Why don't you ask for Mr. Loki's help? Or Mr. Rama?"

Freya pointed toward to where Loki, Rama, and Neith were currently so focused on their paperwork, they didn't notice anything at all.

"Ugh… fine…" Nemesis groaned.

At the same time, Apollo is literally leaping out to the seat in front of Ares. "Ares! Ares!"

"What is it, Sunny Boy?" Ares grunted. "I thought you were doing your silly story."

Apollo pointed toward the open door leading to the storage room. "There's a huge spider in there that could knock off a guy!"

Ares looked indifferent. "Really? A spider?"

"Yeah! Interestingly, it's the size of a man! And I just witnessed one of the employee got webbed by it! We should totally check it out!"

"Man-sized spider? Alright, I'll see to it. It's probably some random guy dressed as Spider-man." Ares shrugged and clearly annoyed with Apollo's clear enthusiasm.

* * *

"I don't see any tarantula," Nemesis stated. "You're probably imagining it."

"I really did see it!" Freya said. "Check carefully! It's probably between the boxes." As she soon as she said that, she slowly backed away to the open door. She turned and see Apollo, currently leading Ares into the storage room.

"Come on, Ares!" Apollo exclaimed. "I think the spider got your girlfriend!"

"Aphrodite and I already broke up, you idiot!" Ares snapped, but he did enter the storage room. "I didn't see any spider— "

The door immediately closed, locking both Ares and Nemesis inside the storage room, all by themselves.

"WHAT THE FUCK?! "Ares cursed. "HEY! Open the door!"

"Sorry, bro!" Apollo replied from outside the room. "I think the door was jammed!" When he said that, he pretended to open the door but the door was already locked tight—thanks to Mercury, who was grinning outside Ares's point of view. He then approached Apollo, pretended to be curious.

"Excuse me," Mercury said, acting like an innocent employee. "What's going on here?"

"Oh, hey! My brother got stuck inside the storage room here," Apollo said. "Can you get this door opened?"

Mercury looked into the door's lock, poking it with a random toothpick, and looked back to Apollo. "Sorry, I guess the door's lock is broken."

"WHAT?!" Ares shouted. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S BROKEN?"

Mercury shrugged. "It is an old door. Don't worry, we will fix in the next day. By next day, I mean 24 hours starts now."

Apollo looked astonished at how easy Mercury lies. And the fact that the door could muffled the noises made by Ares inside the storage room. Everyone in the café didn't hear anything coming from the room—except Freya, who was trying her best to hide her giggling with a piece of doughnut.

Ares cursed under his breath as he kicked the door in frustration. As soon as he gets out from this room, he will beat up Apollo into a pulp.

"Kicking it wouldn't make any difference."

"Huh?" Ares turned to see Nemesis, who was sitting on the floor, next to the sacks of coffee beans. "Oh, you've got stuck here as well?"

"Isn't that obvious?" Nemesis replied. "Two of us, stuck in the small room, waiting for the door to be unlocked. To me, that's sounded like a stupid romance story."

"Romance?" Ares raised his eyebrow. "I was thinking more like a tragic comedy."

Nemesis blushed, realizing her slip up. "Yeah, that too."

They heard another sound coming from outside. It was from Loki, who was announcing something to the customers. "It appears the storm is finally over. Thank you for not making any mess in the café. Weaver café will open as usual, at 9 in the morning."

They could hear people murmuring and talking as they walked outside the café and the sound of the light turned off.

"Apollo?" Ares called. "APOLLO?"

No one replies.

"Damn it!" Ares immediately punched the door. As usual, the door didn't budge.

* * *

Apollo, walking as quickly as he can, clutching his laptop with him as he makes his way back to house. He was grinning like a Cheshire cat. A great idea had formed in the back of his head after he literally locked his brother with the barista and he couldn't wait to put it into his unfinished story.

"I could literally smell the scent of A plus." He murmured. "I guess I will come back the next morning to check on Ares."

When he's finally at home, he found the kitchen room has a lot of scorch marks and Athena looked tired and was holding a wrench, with a busted coffee maker in front of her.

"Athena? What's— "

"Was fixing the coffee maker," Athena replied, tiredly. "So… anything interesting is going on with you?"


	5. Chapter 5

_One hour later…_

Ares still pacing around the room like a hungry lion, occasionally glaring at the door as if his glares are enough to obliterate it. It's already been one hour in the storage room and both Ares and Nemesis are still stuck inside the storage room for probably another 23 hours (or hope it would be fewer than that). The room itself only contains a couple of sacks of coffee beans, some water gallon, boxes of Twinkie—with a piece of paper plastered in front of it, written: 'Neith's secret stashes of Twinkies. Don't Touch!', and crate full of boxes of tissues (which Nemesis still wondering why her workplace needs that many tissue on the first place)

"Glaring at the door won't do any difference," Nemesis murmured as she leans back to the nearby sack of coffee. "I already tried it."

Ares sighed. "And I can't destroy this door either. What the hell this made of?!"

"I heard that every door in the café were made of stainless steel, before they painted it with wood colored paints." She explained.

"Really?!"

"Nope. I'm just kidding," Nemesis shrugged. "Maybe you just had a really weak strength."

Ares just rolled his eyes. "Well, what about you? Don't you want to get out of here as well? Why don't you help me with this damn door?"

Nemesis shrugged. "Because I know it's no use. Besides, I _do_ help you. I'm still trying to find any tools to help us open the door without actually destroying it." She then added before he could argue, "If my bosses find out that the door to this storage room is destroyed and figure it out it was me, they will fire me. I don't want to lose my job, okay?"

" _She got a point,"_ Ares thought. After casting another glare toward the door, he then sighed heavily and took a seat next to Nemesis. "I guess, we'll just had to wait for the next few hours…"

"Sadly, yes."

They just sitting next to each other, waiting. It was really awkward, consider that they are a man and a woman, locked in a small space, with almost dimming light, with no one else but themselves, and… well you know the point.

"I'm not sure if I will ever stay sane without doing something," Ares finally spoken. He then turned to Nemesis. "How about we continue our conversation?"

Nemesis nodded. "Yeah, sure. What do you want to talk about?"

"You know, I'm still wondering of why are you moved into this neighborhood on the first place?" he asked.

She sighed. "I told you, I'm looking for a fresh start for my life."

"That's it?"

"That's it. What's with the sudden interest with my personal life?"

"Just plain curious," he said. "Also, don't get me wrong, but you looked like someone that is trying to escape from someone that had done something horrible to you in the past."

Nemesis' eyes widened. _"WHAT? How did he— no, he just guessing. He didn't know yet."_ She thought frantically.

"Judging from your sudden reaction, I think I got my guess right on the mark," Ares said. "It's okay. You don't need to tell me. If it's deeply personal, it's personal. I'm not going to pry it out from you."

She was speechless. This guy, a stranger that she knows nothing about but only as her customer, was showing her some kindness. He knows nothing about her either, so why he's being so nice to her? Nemesis felt the warmness in her heart again. She was so confused, because the last time she felt like this was when…

" _No! Stop thinking about_ _ **him**_ _!_ _ **He**_ _had betrayed you in the past!"_ Her inner conscious reminded her.

"I…" Nemesis couldn't find any words to reply. Instead, she asked him back. "You know, I was wondering. Why you've been so nice to me?"

Ares raised his eyebrows. "You've been wondering about that? I am nice to everyone that are nice to me. Unless if they want to piss me off, then I'm not going to be the nice guy to them."

"But, I was a little cold toward you back then. I don't think that counts as being nice to you."

He smiled. "True. But I figured that you don't really mean to act like that, so I wasn't bothered by it."

She once again was taken by his kindness. Despite his gruff appearance, his personalities were contrary from that. Perhaps, the term of 'Never judge a book by its cover' is true.

"Any other questions?" Ares asked. "Well I could answer almost any question, except math. I hate math."

Nemesis giggled slightly at that. _"He is indeed different than_ _ **him**_ **.** _"_

" _But what if he already has a girlfriend? Nice guy like him must have one, right?"_

"I bet," Nemesis said, in between her laughs. "your girlfriend must be jealous right now if she catches you talking to another woman."

Suddenly, the color in Ares' face turned pale. Not long after that, his eyes darkened as he gritted his teeth. Nemesis wasn't expected to see his reaction like that. _"Did I say something wrong?"_ she thought, dreaded that Ares would get angry at her.

Ares almost losing his cool. The mere thought of Aphrodite and what she had done to him, he had almost lashed out in anger.

" _Calm down! Calm. Down. That whore is already in the past now. She's not worth to be remembering again. Besides, Nemesis is right here. If I can't calm down, she surely gets hurt because of my temper."_ Ares thought. He mentally counted to ten as he exhaled and inhaled. It was the lesson that he got from his therapist.

"A-are you okay?" Nemesis asked, there was fear visible in her tone. "I have accidentally asked you something too personal, am I?"

Her concern to him had somehow given him enough comfort to get him calmed down. _"Strange… no one could calm me this quick. Even that whore couldn't stop my anger."_

"No, no, it's okay," Ares said after he calmed down. "It's just that… I had recently broken up with my girlfriend—um, ex-girlfriend now."

"Oh," her eyes widened. "I… I'm so sorry. I must have sounded insensitive to you for asking that question…"

"Nah, it's okay," he said. "You didn't know…"

Ares's shoulders slumped down in defeat as he remembered the time he discovered the betrayal. He really wants to forget about it, but life seems cruel to him.

"Do you… do you want to talk about it?" Nemesis offered. Ares looked to her. "I'm not exactly a patience listener, but I can try." She said.

"I suppose…" Ares said. "There's nothing we can do in here anyway."

And that's how Ares ended up telling her everything about the time he got cheated by Aphrodite.


	6. Chapter 6

"—and the worst part? We caught her making out with Hercules in Bellona's closet. That's messed up," Ares explained. "After Bellona abruptly ended the housewarming party, I approached Aphrodite, and as calm as possible I told her that our relationship is over. She's not sad or angry or anything, she was just slapped my face and ran off, clinging on Hercules's arm."

"Wow, what a bitch," Nemesis commented, whilst unwrapped a Twinkie from its box. (Neith's secret stashes of Twinkies) "And she's not even guilty on cheating on you. Nice guy like you deserves better than her."

"Yeah… I—hey, is that a Twinkie?" Ares asked, eying at the yellow cake with white cream fillings goodness.

Nemesis nodded, while bit off the snack cake. "Found it stashed between the tissue boxes," she then offered the now opened Twinkies' box to Ares. "Want some?"

Ares eyed at the box then back to Nemesis. "Are you sure? I think this is belonged to your boss."

"Nah, I don't think Ms. Neith is the type of person who torture people for eating her favorite snack." Nemesis shrugged as she bit another Twinkie.

* * *

Somewhere, a certain Egyptian suddenly awake from her slumber.

"Someone eating my Twinkies!" Neith screamed. "I'm going to torture whoever touch my sweet yellow cakes!"

* * *

Ares ended up eating two Twinkies with Nemesis. "It's been so long since the last time I ate this cake."

"Really?" Nemesis looked interested. "When the last time you ate Twinkies?"

"During High School," Ares said. "I remember that my friend, Thor often brought Twinkies to school. We would stuff our faces with the cakes as much as we can with our other friends. I still remember that Aphrodite used to… Oh." He immediately looked downcast.

"Ares…" Nemesis looked concerned.

"No, it's okay," he said. "I wasn't with Aphrodite yet back in High School. Everyone thought that she had a crush on me. Considering that however, I think she just want me as her boyfriend to be added to her collection…"

There was another silence as Ares wiped out his tear that he didn't remember that he had cried before. He felt so weak. He used to be one of those tough guys on school, now… he was reduced to a sad broken man, who shamelessly shed a tear in front of a woman. At least Nemesis seems to understand him, despite the fact they just known each other for several hours.

" _Aphrodite would laugh at me if she finds out that I can cry,"_ Ares thought. _"Nemesis is… different. I'm sure she just saw my tear, but she didn't comment about it."_

True, Nemesis only stared at him with concern looks visible on her face. She pulled out a tissue box beside her and offered it to him. "Here, take some."

" _She's more understanding,"_ Ares thought again as he pulled a tissue and used it to wipe his face. _"And she's beautiful—wait, what was I thinking?"_

Nemesis sighed. "Normally, I don't share my personal experience with anyone. But I think you need to know that you're not the only one who got hurt by the person you loved."

"Really?" Ares raised his eyebrows.

She nodded. "Trust me, I know what you're currently feel. I once fallen in love with a nice guy. Well, I thought he was a nice guy… "Nemesis explained. "My friends, Freya and Nike had warned me about him before I dated him. I should had listened to them…"

Sensing that Nemesis is about to cry, Ares immediately pulled her closer to him, so her head could rest on his shoulder.

"He was sweet from the first few months. After graduating, he and I ended up moving together." Nemesis said. "Until… he began to show up his true color…"

"He started groping at me, even though I told him that I'm not comfortable with it. His kisses now seem to be more aggressive to me. I… he…" At this point, Nemesis began to sob. "It was late at night. I was sleeping. He suddenly broke down my door… and… and…"

Ares was completely shocked. "He raped you?"

"No… he _attempted_ to. If it wasn't the fact that Freya had called Ullr to stopped him before he does anything on me…" Nemesis said, face now wet with tears. "He finally got arrested and now serving jail time. It took me a whole year to recover from… _that_."

"Is… is that," Ares murmured. "Why you moved into this neighborhood? To escape from your past with him?"

Nemesis nodded, still trembling from the amount of sadness she currently had. Ares felt even bad now. After his broke up with Aphrodite, he began to dislike at the thought of ever loving anyone ever again. He forgot to consider that there are others out there may have experiencing heartbreak in even worse fashion, more terrible than his.

"It's okay…" He comforted her. "He's not going to bother you anymore."

At their first meeting, Nemesis was cold toward Ares. But now, she had revealed that she is as broken as he is. Ares' coping mechanism is his scorn toward love. Nemesis' coping mechanism is hiding her heartbroken with her cold, uncaring façade.

Come to think of it, they are not so different after all.

She was still sobbing on Ares' shoulder with him occasionally caressed her hair, until the storage room's door was opened to reveal…

"YOU! YOU ATE MY TWINKIES!" Neith screamed, frantically. Behind her stood Athena, who was dragging a battered Apollo with her.

"Apollo told me that he locked you in the café on purpose—after I, ah, interrogated him," Athena explained, while glaring toward scared looking Apollo. "You're lucky that I knew Neith for a long time and I happened to still in contact with her."

Neith just sobbing at the loss of her favorite snacks, while constantly glaring toward a very nervous looking Nemesis. Before Neith could shout at Nemesis for eating the Twinkies, Ares cutting off.

"Actually, Ms. Neith? I was the one that eat the Twinkies," Ares said. "Your employee had nothing to do with it, because she didn't realize I had been eating your cakes behind her back, during our time stuck together in the room…"

Nemesis only shoot an incredulous look to him, as if she wants to say: 'Wait, what?', but secretly thanked him for defending her. Meanwhile, Neith had stop glaring toward Nemesis and just gave Ares a weird look.

Athena just face-palmed. "Damn it, Ares. Now I have to pay for the Twinkies as well?"

"Yeah?"

Athena grumbled a little bit, while Apollo silently laugh at his sibling's antic. That is, until both Athena and Ares glared at him.


	7. Chapter 7

The next day, Weaver Café is open as usual—although slightly late from their usual business hours. Both Mercury and Freya looked nervous during work when Loki asked them of Nemesis's whereabouts.

"Are you sure you hadn't see her this morning?" Loki asked to Freya. "You live in the same apartment building with her, right?"

"Yes, sir," Freya answered. "But I didn't see her since I left the café last night. And we're not even roommates, so I didn't know if she even in her room or not."

Loki groaned. "This is why I don't like to employ students. They never—"

Neith suddenly cut him off. "Loki, I may have given Nemesis a day off for today."

Both Freya and Mercury looked stiffened and confused. Does that mean Neith knows that they locked Nemesis in the storage room?

Loki raised his eyebrows. "Why?"

"Apparently, she got locked in the café's storage room all night with Athena's brother, Ares," Neith explained, oblivious to the pale faces of Freya and Mercury. "I didn't know about that at first, until Athena contacted me last night and told me that her other brother, Apollo had locked them both as his prank or something."

Loki groaned again. "Apollo. Why am I not surprised? At least, we're not dealing with her other brother, Hermes. Last time, it was a complete disaster. And I don't want to deal with another talking bubblegum."

Mercury and Freya looked even more confused toward Loki.

"It's a long story," Loki murmured.

Neith then turned to Freya. "So anyway, since Nemesis is currently unavailable for today, I want you to take her shift for today. It means that you will deal two shifts."

Freya nodded, although she was mentally groaned at this.

Mercury raised his hand. "Um, Ms. Neith? What about me?"

"You will have an even more cleaning duties for today, since I heard from Loki of how energetic and fast you were yesterday," Neith explained. "Just make sure not to break anymore coffee mugs, and your paycheck will not be harmed."

Mercury nodded.

"Oh, and one more thing," Neith added as she turned back to Freya. "I want you to go to the nearest mini market and buy me two dozen of Twinkies."

Loki, Freya, and Mercury only gave her a weird look.

"What? Twinkie is my favorite snack." Neith shrugged.

* * *

Ares was laying on the couch, watching a TV, while being wrapped up with blanket. Normally he would sulk about his break up with Aphrodite, but after what happened last night, he didn't feel hurt at all from it.

Athena handed him a cup of hot chocolate. "You seem to look better after that nasty break-up. I assume you finally move on?"

Ares nodded while gratefully receive the hot chocolate. "I think so. I don't think I want to deal with that bitch anymore."

"Good. I don't like seeing you being treated like that," Athena took a sip of her chocolate. "I never even like Aphrodite on the first place anyway."

"Well you did express your distaste for her when I once brought her to our home," Ares recalled. "I guess you were right for disliking her after all."

"I'm smart at assessing people," Athena boasted. "But honestly, I didn't expect her to have four boyfriends at the same time while dating you. That's just so… wrong."

"Nobody expect that," Ares nodded, sadly.

Athena stirred her chocolate as she spoke, "She seems nice."

"Huh? Who are you talking about?"

"The girl that was with you when you were locked up in the storage room," Athena said, smiled. "You kind of protected her from being lashed out by Neith last night."

"I don't know what you are talking about," Ares grumbled.

"Come on, Ares," Athena said. "I was there with Apollo last night. I can literally see the bond between you two."

Ares groaned. "Huh… Not you too! Apollo being annoying by trying to hook me up with random chicks is already bad enough. Now you as well?!"

"I'm sure Apollo has a good intention," Athena said. "Besides, it's about time for you to stop being a crybaby anyway."

Ares just glared toward his sister.

* * *

Nemesis is currently laying on her bed, tried to take a nap, but couldn't. She had so much thought happening in her mind right now.

" _I barely know him for hours! And how did I suddenly share my personal experience to him that easily?"_ she thought. It's true. It was supposed to be her darkest secret and only those that close to her (like Freya) can know about it. She just known Ares for hours and that was for being the one to served him his coffee, and suddenly she blurted out her secret to him few hours later.

" _But he did share his experience of being heartbroken to me. I guess that's why? Because he trusted me with his personal experience?"_

" _He did seem nice. And handsome—wait, what?! Why did I have that thought?!"_

Again, she had known him only by hours. It actually confused her of how she could easily warm up with him—and what scared her is the fact of how easily she got attracted to him, her customer that she just met last night.

" _He is different—NO! STOP THINKING LIKE THAT, NEMESIS! What if he is just like_ _ **him**_ _?! What if he acts all nice and weak so he could manipulate me?!"_

Nemesis tried to calm herself. _"But not all guys are like_ _ **him**_ _, right?"_

" _Maybe Ares is different,"_ she thought. _"I hope he's different than_ _ **him**_ _…"_


	8. Chapter 8

The next (uneventful) day—which is thank gods, Saturday—Apollo returned back to Weaver Café with his laptop, and his head was bandaged. Athena can be really scary when she's angry. He was still paled from his class yesterday. His teacher had announced the deadline for the story assignment. It is due in two weeks and his story only goes as far to three paragraphs.

" _If only this is a poetry, I would probably have done in a couple of minutes! I hate English Literature!"_ Apollo thought.

He almost bumps himself to the café counter.

Freya frowned when she recognized the blonde man. "Oh, it's you. What can I get for you?"

"Uh… can I have an Iced Lemonade Shake?" Apollo murmured, flinched slightly at the sudden pain in his head. "Oh, and an ice pack as well would be nice."

Freya only raised her eyebrow at his strange order, but didn't comment about it. When she left to prepare the drink, Mercury walked in and notice Apollo. "Oh, hey. What happened to you?"

Apollo rubbed his bandaged head. "My sister found out about my scheme yesterday—and don't worry. She only knows that I was the only perpetrators, I didn't mention you guys."

Mercury sighed. "Gee, thanks."

"Say, where's Nemesis?" Apollo asked.

"She's in the back, moving boxes of microwavable cinnamon rolls to the storage," Mercury said. "I was expecting her to be colder to us after that locked room incident, but she seems to be more…"

"Angrier?" Apollo guessed.

"No, actually she looked more depressed. And not because she misses your brother, Ares," Mercury pointed out. "Freya seems to know why she acted like that, but she won't tell me."

Freya came back with Apollo's order and an ice pack. "Iced Lemonade Shake and an ice pack," she handed both items to Apollo. "Now, explain to me why you were all bandaged and stuff."

"His sister found out about the scheme." Mercury explained, which make Freya slightly paled.

"My sister only know I was the only one who did it," Apollo said, reassuringly. "I didn't mention you guys."

Freya sighed. "Thank gods."

Apollo then notice when Nemesis finally entered the counter after moving few boxes into the storage. And it was true, she looked depressed.

"What happened to her?" Apollo asked Freya.

"Sorry, I can't tell you," Freya said. "Nemesis had made me swore not to tell anyone about her past predicaments, unless if she's the one to tell."

"Is it something to do with why she moved into these neighborhood in the first place?" Apollo asked, recalling their conversation last night.

"Yes."

Nemesis didn't seem to hear their conversation or choose to ignore it, as she moves past them to receive the customer's order.

"I'm still stuck in three paragraphs and my idea of locking them both only give me one more paragraph to write and I still need to write over 10 pages more for my assignment. And my deadline is in two weeks," Apollo mumbled. "Do you guys have any idea?"

"Why don't you try to rewrite some old romance stories?" Freya suggested.

"Mr. Thoth is a strict teacher. When he said the stories must be original, he really means it." Apollo explained.

Mercury looked back to see Nemesis, who is now in the process of making some coffee beverages. "Maybe the plan has something to do with making her happy. Nemesis and depression doesn't fit at all. She looked ugly with that frowns."

"What did you say?!" Nemesis snapped.

"Oh, nothing!" Mercury raised his hands in defense.

Nemesis muttered something before turning back to give her customer their beverage.

Mercury breathed in relief.

Apollo looked brightened. "I've got it. I could just send Ares to try to comfort her. And then, we will try to make them even closer, subtlety. You know, like when Mercury accidentally pushed her to my brother."

"Mr. Loki banned me from using mop as ice skate after that." Mercury murmured.

* * *

Apollo was typing and retyping the story, frustrated over the fact that some words sounds fitting only on his head. He also held a bag of ice onto his sore head, so he tried to keep the ice from dripping on his laptop as well.

 _This is microwave_

 _My homework is suck as hell_

 _I hate my whole life_

"What's microwave got to do with your homework?"

Apollo turned and he saw Ares, who was standing beside him, with a cup of coffee on his hand.

"Oh, nothing. It's just my haiku," Apollo shrugged, flinched again at the sudden head's pain. "I can make another hundreds of haiku, but nooo… the teacher had to give me something that I'm not expert at. Story-writing."

Ares chuckled. "I suppose that because your teacher is tired with your shitty haikus."

"My haiku is not that terrible!" Apollo retorted.

"Sureee…" Ares said as he sipped his coffee. "

 _Banana is sweet_

 _I am expert of haiku_

 _Stop hating it, bro!_

"Enough," Ares said. "You'll scare off some people here with your lousy haiku."

 _Try to stop me, bro_

 _I can do this all day long_

 _I am so awesome_

And then, someone throw a banana at Apollo.

"SHUT UP! NOBODY LIKES YOUR HAIKU!"

Ares turned to see an angry Loki and he was holding a bunch of bananas. The senior barista looked to Ares, nodded before heading back to teach Mercury of how to use microwave.

"So," Ares decided to open a conversation. "Explain to me of why you decided to lock me with the café's barista in their storage room last night?"

Apollo paled immediately. "Um… I… For a prank?"

Ares raised his eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah?" Apollo answered, even though it sounded more like a question than a statement. "I mean, I kinda miss Hermes and I thought, maybe if I could just prank you a little. You know, just like how Hermes used to prank you before."

Ares still looked doubtful toward Apollo. "You can always call him if you miss him, right?"

"It's just doesn't feel the same," Apollo said.

Ares looked thoughtful. "Fine, I guess you're right. I never thought I'm going to say this, but without Hermes and his antics, I don't think everything would ever be the same again."

Apollo nodded—more like glad that Ares didn't suspect his scheme of trying to hook him up with Nemesis. "You know, I heard that there's going to be the annual Wine Festival here in this neighborhood on Monday. You want to come? I heard Bacchus is already prepare something new for the festival."

* * *

 **AUTHOR NOTE: Is anyone here hate Apollo's haikus as much as I do?**


	9. Chapter 9

_Nemesis found herself strapped on her own bed, darkness creeping outside the window, alone._

" _No… NO! Not again!" She screamed, but no one comes._

 _Right in front of her, a dark figure slowly approached her, with grins plastered on his face, and eyes glinting with madness._

" _My dear Nemesis…" the figure said. "Did you really think you can escape from me?"_

 _Nemesis's eyes widened as she recognized the voice. "You… But how?! My brother said you're in jail for life!"_

 _The mysterious figure laughed. "Your brother? You mean that pitiful sack of meat that I hang besides you?"_

 _She gasped as the figure motioned to the side. It was Thanatos, hang like a frozen meat in the butcher shop, eyes motionless and skin blue. Her brother is dead._

" _T-Thanatos…" Nemesis wept._

" _And you think, your friends can save you again? Not this time!" The figure threw down a pile of bodies right below Thanatos for Nemesis to see. She gasped as she recognized them all._

 _Freya is dead, with bruises and deep wounds on her head. Nike is dead, disemboweled. Ullr is dead, his head missing from his body._

 _Nemesis cries even harder at that disturbing sight. "W..why?! WHY?"_

 _The figure suddenly lunges to her, keeping her from squirming away from him as he forcefully kissed her._

" _Because you're mine…" he hissed. "You're MINE! MINE! NO ONE CAN HAVE YOU BUT ME!"_

 _As soon as he said that, another dead body falls from the ceiling on Nemesis' other side. It received even more gruesome cuts and wounds than her other friends had, and it had carving of a word 'THIEF' right on its chest._

 _It was Ares. Mangled on the floor, motionless._

…

Nemesis gasped as she awoken from her sleeps. She sighed in relief as she observed her surroundings. She was still in her bedroom, no dead bodies, no straps on her bed, everything is normal.

It was just a nightmare. Another nightmare.

She was drenched in cold sweats, her skin turned even paler. She looked to her alarm clock, which shown 3:15 am.

She curled up under her blanket, tears slowly forming in her eyes.

" _Why I keep having these nightmares?_

* * *

Sunday morning came beautifully—

"ATHENA! THE COFFEE MAKER IS BROKEN AGAIN!" Apollo screamed as said machine is currently spewed out creamer to the blond man.

— as normal as it can do.

"GAAH!" Athena, still with her curler on her hair, immediately attacks the coffee machine with her hairbrush, mercilessly. It stopped the machine from spewing out more creamer, but it burst into flame.

"I think it's time for us to get a new coffee maker… "Apollo murmured at the completely broken machine.

"Agree…" Athena sighed. "I'm sure Chronos still had some of those brand-new coffee makers in his electronic store."

Ares was still in his sleepwear (which consisted of 'Disturbed' band T-shirt and red sweatpants) when he came down to the kitchen and sees his siblings standing over a dead coffee maker. "What's going on? I heard a crash…"

"That's the sign for us to replace our cranky coffee maker." Apollo stated, dramatically. Athena simply rolled her eyes on him.

"I'm afraid you can only get your morning coffee in Weaver Café for now, Ares." Athena said.

"So… we're not going to get Janus to fix it?" Ares asked.

"Nah… we're going to get to Chronos to get a new one instead," Athena shrugged. "as soon after we have breakfast and cleaned up."

"But breakfast is nothing without my Café Latte…" Apollo murmured.

Athena sighed, again. "Fine. Get dressed. We're going to Weaver Café for breakfast."

Apollo's eyes twinkled as he kept staring at Athena with his puppy eyes.

"Yes… I'll pay it…" Athena grumbled.

* * *

Since it's still morning, there was a few customers in the café. Mercury had found a new hobby, which is him pretending to be a hockey player, with his broom as his hockey stick, random crumpled of paper as hockey puck, and his bucket as its goal.

Freya looked bewildered as Mercury scored a goal, whilst mimicking some Canadian accents as he cheered to himself. Thankfully, their customers are too busy with their own beverages to even notice the hyperactive guy.

"I still can't believe that I have to work during weekend too…" Freya mumbled to herself. "Most interns have day off during Sunday."

Meanwhile, Nemesis looked half-sleepy and half-bored whilst tending the cash register. She looked almost like a living corpse, which thankfully no one even bother to comment about it.

"Nem," Freya called from her side. "Your Prince Charming's here." She smirked as she spotted the looks of bewilderment from her coworker.

"My what?!" Nemesis's eyes shot up, sleeps forgotten.

Freya snickered as she pointed. "Remember that blonde hunk that you served few days ago? He's here…"

Nemesis looked murderous toward her friend but couldn't able to hide her blush that had risen tenth fold.

* * *

"Alright, so who's going to order?" Athena asked she took a seat. They had opted to take seats near the café's window.

"Obviously not me," Apollo said as he looked up from his laptop. "I have homework, remember?"

She nodded. "That means, Ares will be the one to order for us."

Ares groaned.

"Don't be such a baby, bro. Besides, your Princess is on the register…" Apollo teased.

"MY WHAT?" Ares gawked.

Athena looked toward where Apollo had pointed out, then back again to Ares. "Hey, isn't that the same girl that got trapped in the storage room with you?"

"Exactly! She is Ares's new crush!"

"I don't have a crush on her!"

"Oooh, yes you are!"

"No, I'm not!"

"You are!"

"Am not!"

"You are!"

"Am not!"

"You—"

Athena proceed to slap both of her dunderhead of brothers. "Be quiet!"

"Sorry…"

* * *

Loki only looked amused as he watched Athena scolded her brothers. "Yep, they are one interesting family…"

"I know right? Thank gods that Athena is the mature one, otherwise I have no idea what those boys are going to do to survive." Rama commented. He then eyed on the open letter on Loki's hand. "Say, what letter is that?"

"Oh, this is from Bacchus. You know, free tickets for all of us to his upcoming Wine Festival tomorrow. I better tell the kids that they will have a day off tomorrow."

"Sounds good. Consider we just forced them to work on Sunday…"


End file.
